Microsoft Anti-Spyware Beta 2 coming up

Microsoft is getting ready to release the second beta of its Anti-Spyware program, which has been renamed to Windows Defender. New in this beta will be the integration with Outlook to scan incoming e-mail attachments, a new interface and automatic spyware definition and scanning engine updates.

Defender is the new brand name for what Microsoft still calls Windows AntiSpyware, the add-on that's been in Beta 1 since it debuted more than a year ago. Beta 1 only works in Windows XP.

Windows Defender Beta 2, on the other hand, will be available for Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Vista, with additional editions for earlier Windows posted at some undisclosed future date. It will be included with both the client and server versions of Vista, Microsoft's next operating system, which is to unveil late in 2006.